The Infiniti Q50 Red Sport 400 Should Make BMW, Mercedes, and Cadillac Worry

When it came to true performance luxury rigs, BMW’s M division, Mercedes-Benz’s AMG arm, and Caddy’s V-Series models have the market pretty much cornered. Lexus has also dabbled a bit in this area with its F Sport models, but Infiniti never really dived into this segment. Sure, there were the IPL models, but those were not true competitors to the leaders in this class. Recently, Infiniti revealed its new Q50 Red Sport 400 model, which will give it a legit performance model, and today, the automaker has unveiled its segment-breaking price.

The base Q50 Red Sport 400 will start from just $47,950 while the all-wheel-drive version will push the price to $49,950. To many “normal” car buyers, these prices may be eye-watering, but to shoppers in this class, they present an outrageous value on the surface when compared to the $63,500 BMW M3, the $65,250 Mercedes-AMG C63, and the $60,465 ATS-V sedan.

I say “on the surface” because, well, I have yet to drive the Red Sport 400 to see if it actually performs near the level of the ATS-V, M3, and C63. With its 400-horsepower V-6 engine, the fast Infiniti will likely be just a few tenths off in terms of 0-to-60 time, but its performance in the corners is where the mystery lies. Infiniti says that the Red Sport 400 has a specially tuned Digital Dynamic Suspension and a more performance-oriented power-steering system, but I find it hard to believe that those two systems are enough to keep pace in the twist with the class leaders.

Regardless, at around $17,000 cheaper than the C63, $15,000 less than the M3, and $12,500 less than the ATS-V, the Q50 Red Sport 400 looks to be an awesome value.